Revisiting my unsolved engine problems

[petershen1984]

Well, ever since I've had this car I'm only bothered the fact that the engine wants to accelerate slowly after it has had a highway run, where kickdown was used and the engine speed went over 4,000 rpms. To this day I haven't found a solution - it's just a slight annoyance / nuisance that drops horsepower. If anyone could provide any insight I'd be gladly appreciated.

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I found out that I could reproduce the problem (experimentally) with the car in neutral and revving high. The slow acceleration is then tested as follows: It's like a stall test (without the steering wheel locked on one end) where the shifter is in Drive, the brakes are applied while the accelerator is gently depressed until the rpm won't go higher.

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Well, of course, the car is warmed and I wouldn't rev a cold engine. The thing is, there is a distinct difference in the speed the rpm picks up under this brake load, before and after the engine rev. And the weird thing is, it goes away after restarting the engine. Of course, engine performance and acceleration is affected. Starting off the line (at toll booths) it picks up speed slowly, but if I turn off over-drive it will still get up to speed. However, the horsepower decrease is significant enough to not climb the highway incline.


It feels like the engine is flooded with unburnt fiuel or something... is this calling for a new ignition computer or sensors??

[wojeepster]

It sounds like the car is remaining in high gear and is not shifting down into first.

[petershen1984]

Indeed.... it feels like the "auto" transmission is starting off on 2nd, and won't even respond to the selecter in position 1. From the owner's manual I know if shifting to LOW gear (1), there's a speed-sensor lockout switch that if the car is travelling too fast, it will first shift into 2nd gear until the car slows down enough.

[wojeepster]

Are you putting the transmission in D?